Jake Shears: My parents took years to accept I was gay

Jake Shears has spoken about the problems he had as a teenager, admitting his parentstook a long time to acknowledge he was gay.

The 31-year-old Scissor Sister frontman realised he was attracted to men at the age of 13, but says his father only accepted his homosexuality when he graduated from high school.

Jake now has a great relationship with his mother and father, but says it has taken years for them to adjust.

"They probably knew I was gay before I told them, but it took my dad years to come to terms with it. Then, when I graduated, it dawned on him his kid was all right," said the musician in an interview with British newspaper The Daily Mail.

Jake`s co-vocalist Ana Matronic says she also spent her teenage years on the fringes of society and discovered her desire to be different from an early age.

"At 11, I heard The Cure for the first time, and I became a big old goth girl," she said. "I`ve always dressed up and worn big eyelashes and wigs."

The band went on to describe how they thought Sir Ian McKellen was homeless when he worked on the Scissor Sisters new album.

Veteran British actor Ian provides a surprising cameo on the dance album with a booming monologue on the track Invisible Light.

The actor is a fan of the band and was the first person Jake thought of when his band needed a deep, British male voice for the song.

When the recording was made, Ian was starring in the play Waiting For Godot in London, which required him to grow a bushy beard. Jake recalls he first thought the legendary actor looked like a homeless man as he caught him puffing on a cigarette outside the theatre.

"When we pulled up, he was smoking a cigarette in the street, looking like a homeless guy with a huge beard," laughed the pop star.